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It's Forgotten Masterpiece Friday!
The New York Philharmonic's inaugural concert in 1842 featured some of the "greatest hits" in Western music, as one might expect for an orchestra that was intended to be America's leading musical institution from its very first day. Beethoven's Fifth led off the program, and was followed by a potpourri of opera arias from Mozart, Weber, and Hummel. The program closed, however, with a surprising selection: a concert overture by one Johann Kalliwoda (1801-1866), or Jan Kalivoda in his native Czech. Kalivoda's music continued to appear regularly on New York Philharmonic programs through the 1846, and then abruptly disappeared. Since 1846, the New York Philharmonic has revived the Concert Overture in D from its inaugural concert a number of times at anniversary or other milestone concerts, but has played no other Kalivoda piece.
Kalivoda got his place on the program by sheer happenstance: the New York Philharmonic's first conductor, Ureli Hill, had gone to Prague to study music, and Kalivoda had been his violin teacher. But while he is known today largely because of the performances he got in New York, he was evidently regarded by some his contemporary colleagues as a first-rate composer and he was a particular favorite of Schumann and Mendelssohn. His obscurity may owe something to his sedentary career. In a post-Beethoven era in which the leading composers sought public acclaim, Kalivoda was a bit of a throwback, spending the early part of his career playing violin in the Prague Opera orchestra before settling into four decades as court composer and conductor to the House of Fürstenberg. While the six symphonies published during his lifetime were all performed in Leipzig under Mendelssohn's baton, he himself toured only occasionally, and only as a violinist.
As a symphonist, Kalivoda forms somewhat of a bridge between Beethoven and Schumann, both stylistically and chronologically. His six dated symphonies (a seventh was published posthumously) span the period from 1824 to 1845; his first was completed the same year as Beethoven's ninth, his sixth the year before Schumann's second.
Kalivoda's fourth symphony, composed in 1835, was panned by conservative critics at its premiere in Leipzig; one called it "quite strange and different from its predecessors." But despite the lukewarm reception, Mendelssohn thought highly enough of the symphony to repeat it just six months later. To some extent it might be seen as following in the footsteps of Beethoven's Fifth with its journey "from darkness to light"; it even begins in C minor and ends in C major, the very same keys Beethoven used. But Kalivoda's journey differs, in ways that may have confused audiences of the era. His first movement begins with a somber introduction marked "Marcia funébre" that soon gives way to much more cheerful music. The second movement, a "Romanze", is even more striking: it features an independent solo cello part throughout, which often takes center stage like a concerto soloist. After a scherzo third movement that lives up to the name (Italian for "joke"), Kalivoda returns to C minor for the fourth movement whose main recurring theme suggests elements of Czech folk music. Episodes recall earlier movements in the symphony, most notably a return to the Romanze in which the solo cello is replaced by a solo bassoon. The symphony comes to a close in C major -- but unlike Beethoven's Fifth, whose entire finale is in C major, Kalivoda leaves it literally to the last moment, with a Picardy third in the final chord, to complete his journey from darkness to light.
Movements:
I. Introduzione: Adagio - Allegro non troppo
II. Romanze: Andante (14:15)
III. Scherzo: Allegro molto (21:09)
IV. Finale: Vivace (25:28)
The New York Philharmonic's inaugural concert in 1842 featured some of the "greatest hits" in Western music, as one might expect for an orchestra that was intended to be America's leading musical institution from its very first day. Beethoven's Fifth led off the program, and was followed by a potpourri of opera arias from Mozart, Weber, and Hummel. The program closed, however, with a surprising selection: a concert overture by one Johann Kalliwoda (1801-1866), or Jan Kalivoda in his native Czech. Kalivoda's music continued to appear regularly on New York Philharmonic programs through the 1846, and then abruptly disappeared. Since 1846, the New York Philharmonic has revived the Concert Overture in D from its inaugural concert a number of times at anniversary or other milestone concerts, but has played no other Kalivoda piece.
Kalivoda got his place on the program by sheer happenstance: the New York Philharmonic's first conductor, Ureli Hill, had gone to Prague to study music, and Kalivoda had been his violin teacher. But while he is known today largely because of the performances he got in New York, he was evidently regarded by some his contemporary colleagues as a first-rate composer and he was a particular favorite of Schumann and Mendelssohn. His obscurity may owe something to his sedentary career. In a post-Beethoven era in which the leading composers sought public acclaim, Kalivoda was a bit of a throwback, spending the early part of his career playing violin in the Prague Opera orchestra before settling into four decades as court composer and conductor to the House of Fürstenberg. While the six symphonies published during his lifetime were all performed in Leipzig under Mendelssohn's baton, he himself toured only occasionally, and only as a violinist.
As a symphonist, Kalivoda forms somewhat of a bridge between Beethoven and Schumann, both stylistically and chronologically. His six dated symphonies (a seventh was published posthumously) span the period from 1824 to 1845; his first was completed the same year as Beethoven's ninth, his sixth the year before Schumann's second.
Kalivoda's fourth symphony, composed in 1835, was panned by conservative critics at its premiere in Leipzig; one called it "quite strange and different from its predecessors." But despite the lukewarm reception, Mendelssohn thought highly enough of the symphony to repeat it just six months later. To some extent it might be seen as following in the footsteps of Beethoven's Fifth with its journey "from darkness to light"; it even begins in C minor and ends in C major, the very same keys Beethoven used. But Kalivoda's journey differs, in ways that may have confused audiences of the era. His first movement begins with a somber introduction marked "Marcia funébre" that soon gives way to much more cheerful music. The second movement, a "Romanze", is even more striking: it features an independent solo cello part throughout, which often takes center stage like a concerto soloist. After a scherzo third movement that lives up to the name (Italian for "joke"), Kalivoda returns to C minor for the fourth movement whose main recurring theme suggests elements of Czech folk music. Episodes recall earlier movements in the symphony, most notably a return to the Romanze in which the solo cello is replaced by a solo bassoon. The symphony comes to a close in C major -- but unlike Beethoven's Fifth, whose entire finale is in C major, Kalivoda leaves it literally to the last moment, with a Picardy third in the final chord, to complete his journey from darkness to light.
Movements:
I. Introduzione: Adagio - Allegro non troppo
II. Romanze: Andante (14:15)
III. Scherzo: Allegro molto (21:09)
IV. Finale: Vivace (25:28)